Oyster prices expected to fall

Oyster prices remain higher than usual in Gainesville this holiday season but might decrease in the near future, sellers say.

By Andrea RumbaughCorrespondent

Oyster prices remain higher than usual in Gainesville this holiday season but might decrease in the near future, sellers say.

Gainesville seafood providers Lee Deaderick, co-owner of Northwest Seafood, and Vinod Bajaj, owner of Calico Jack’s Oyster Bar and Seafood House, said they have seen an increase in supplies, and they both predicted a decrease in oyster prices.

David Barber, oyster supplier to Northwest Seafood and owner of Barber’s Seafood, said the BP oil spill caused the price of his oysters to increase 31 percent from $16 a bushel — which is between 200 and 240 oysters — to $21 a bushel, but now his prices have dropped to $18 a bushel, which is similar to oyster prices this time last year.

Barber said the supply is good, and he predicted oyster prices will remain the same for the remainder of the season. He said prices might increase again in the summer when some state-owned oyster beds, such as those in Texas, are closed and the supply relies on privately owned oyster beds.

Deaderick said he noticed a larger-than-average supply of oysters this season because of good growing conditions, and he predicted this will cause prices to decrease. He said the cold weather is making the oysters taste better and that the low rainfall is opening the bays for harvesting because some areas close during rain.

“Normally, during the holidays, you can never get enough oysters,” Deaderick said. “They just simply can’t produce them fast enough to meet the demand, and so far this year they’ve been able to produce them at a pace that met the demand.”

Deaderick said the overall demand has remained steady. He said oysters are popular during the holidays, used in parties as dressings, appetizers and cocktails, and they are enjoyed with a cold beer and a football game.

Martin May, management review specialist for the Florida Bureau of Seafood and Aquaculture Marketing, said demand is rebounding. According to surveys sponsored by his department, 25 percent of people surveyed didn’t eat Gulf seafood after the oil spill, but now 15 percent of the people who quit eating seafood are beginning to eat it again. These surveys have been conducted since the end of the oil spill.

However, John Easley, development representative for the Florida Bureau of Seafood and Aquaculture Marketing, said there has been a decrease in demand because of safety perceptions that oysters were affected by oil or are unsafe to eat.

“We’re still dealing with a perception problem of Gulf seafood products — oysters being one of the main ones,” he said.

David Heil, assistant director of the Division of Aquaculture in the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, points out that oysters are well regulated.

He said inspectors examine where water drains from the land into harvesting areas; they locate possible sources of pollution; and they test the harvesting water to determine if it is safe. Inspectors also monitor how oysters are harvested and sold.

But Bajaj said he has been affected by a decrease in demand because of safety perceptions. Last year during football season, Calico Jack’s sold about 7,000 oysters a week. This year, it was selling about 3,000 a week.

He said business is down about 30 percent compared with this time last year and that the demand for oysters has decreased because people think they aren’t safe to eat.

“I think people should come out and try without being worried about the quality or the contamination of the oil spill,” he said. “I think that’s pretty much behind us.”

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